Today’s Essential Reads
FRACKING:
Shabangu extends shale gas prospecting moratorium
Mining Minister Susan Shabangu has extended a moratorium on prospecting for shale gas for a further six months, to allow time for public consultation on the matter.
Federal Fracking Response Could Be Years Away
A liquid concoction, often laced with toxic chemicals, is a central villain in the controversy over extracting natural gas by fracturing rock beneath the earth’s surface. Opponents fear this fracking fluid may foul water supplies, endangering human health and the environment.
Oil and water: Big oil requires big water
From around the state they came to learn about the resource most critical to both residents and to the operation of the oil industry: water.
Protesters Opposed to ‘Fracking’ Gather on N.B. Roadside
Police in New Brunswick are trying to determine who vandalized seismic testing equipment in an area north of Fredericton where activists opposed to shale gas development staged a peaceful protest Thursday.
BP OIL SPILL:
Oil Companies Investigate Report of Sheen in Gulf
A new oil sheen was spotted in the Gulf of Mexico, although energy company BP said Thursday the discovery had nothing to do with its operations and was far from the site of its disaster-hit Macondo well.
As I noted last year, the seafloor under BP’s leaking Gulf oil well cracked, and could leak for years.
The Arctic – Drills and Spills
Even without the daily risk of an offshore oil spill in the Arctic the very act of drilling there can be hazardous to company health. Cairn Energy PLC (LSE:CNE) is a case in point here.
Drilling for Oil in Arctic Ocean is Fraught with Danger
More than a year later after the BP oil spill, the environmental degradation from the Deepwater Horizon disaster lingers in the Gulf of Mexico. Oil can still be found on nearly 500 miles of Gulf coastline, and an enormous dead zone remains at the mouth of the Mississippi River.
RADIATION:
Nuclear official resigned over lax safety, DPP says
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers yesterday traded allegations over the resignation of Atomic Energy Council (AEC) Deputy Minister Shieh Der-jhy (???).
